Pride of the Wives
by Genie For Your Wish
Summary: It was a wife's duty to defend her husband's honor, no matter how lazy, infuriating or idiotic he was. — NarutoSakura, SasukeTenten, ShikamaruIno.


Featuring NaruSaku, SasuTen and ShikaIno (also a bit of KibaHina on the side because I couldn't help myself), my own personal canons. Yes, yes I know that all four of these ships are not and never will be (especially SasuTen, my beautiful crackship) canon, but frankly I don't give a damn. Shipping is always up to interpretation, and canon can never dictate what you can and cannot ship, so don't give me that unnecessary ship hate I've gotten before. You enjoy your ships, so let me enjoy mine.

And cue rant over. Anyways, hope you do enjoy haha.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

* * *

If there was one thing Sakura, Ino and Tenten all had in common it was the amount of pride each held for their respective spouses. All three were prideful girls by nature, but once their husbands were brought into the picture it seemed that their egos only amplified with their tendency to boast about their husbands' respective achievements. While the girls could each go on forever about their own respective achievements, talking about their husbands' was always a little more fun. And unfortunately this time around, a certain Inuzuka Hinata had fallen prey into becoming what other kunoichis referred to as 'the boasting bag', following a chance encounter with a very ecstatic Nara Ino.

"Hinata!" Ino's voice called out from the distance, stopping the said girl in her tracks. She turned around to see one of her best friends approaching and gave her a timid wave in acknowledgement. Ino didn't seem to mind the girl's timidness as a bright smile was plastered on her face, piquing Hinata's curiosity behind the reason to her especially bright smile.

The blonde kunoichi bounded toward the girl, her tongue on the brink of exploding in excitement after receiving the new found news. She couldn't contain herself any longer before she let out a small squeal, Hinata's curious gaze turning into one of concern. "Are you alright Ino?" she asked her softly, genuinely worried.

Ino nodded especially enthusiastically, completely missing her worried look. "Of course I am! But guess what Hinata," she began excitedly, confusing the Byakugan wielder with her sudden change of mood. She didn't get to respond to Ino's enthusiasm when the blonde continued on her rambling. "Shikamaru got appointed as jounin commander! You know what this means right? He's the highest ranking jounin in the village!" she exclaimed happily, her eyes twinkling in bliss.

"That's great Ino," Hinata replied kindly, happy for her friend's husband's achievement. So she wasn't in trouble after all. Now that she had understood the reason behind the girl's squeal she felt as though she could breathe easy.

"Sorry to burst your bubble Ino, but Sasuke's already ANBU Captain meaning that he ranks higher than your jounin commander over there." A voice broke the two girls out of their chatter as they whipped around to find a smirking Uchiha Tenten, arms crossed as she approached the two women with an air of confidence. Ino's smile fell a bit and her eye twitched, causing the feeling of dread to erupt in Hinata's stomach. Oh no, this was not looking good. She could not stay for another argument, not when she had just experienced one no less than a few days ago. If the last third of the quarrelling trio came along then–

"Well, sorry to burst both of your bubbles Ino-Pig, Tenten, but Naruto's the _Hokage_. He ranks the highest in the village, and both your husbands work right under him." Another smug voice caused the three to turn to the right, their eyes meeting the familiar sight of Uzumaki Sakura in all her smirking glory.

And there she was. Now that all three had gathered, Hinata was at a loss as to what her next move should be. Should she just silently creep off and stop herself from being stuck in another squabble or should she stay behind and play peace maker again? The former was looking more desirable as the head medic-nin kept walking closer to the group with an even more confident aura, causing Ino's eye to twitch even more and Tenten's brows to furrow.

At the sight of Sakura's smirk, a vein popped in the back of the blonde's head in annoyance. "Well no one asked for your opinion Billboard Brow," she retorted, her tone scornful.

Sakura scoffed, raising an eyebrow challengingly at her childhood friend. "Oh yeah, well no one asked Tenten either and she said her opinion before me," she pointed out, Ino gritting her teeth now.

The brunette in question frowned before turning to the mind jutsu specialist. "That's because Ino still finds me intimidating, isn't that right Ino?"

"Pft, y _ou_? intimidating? Yeah right, who could find _you_ intimidating Tenten?" she brushed off coolly, not wanting to admit the truth in front of Sakura. As Tenten was the oldest out of the four as well as the most experienced, she still had that air of seniority surrounding her no matter how close they had gotten.

But Tenten looked slightly insulted, not getting that Ino was just trying to play things off coolly in front of Sakura. "Oh I don't know, maybe the current _Hokage_ when we were still genin?" Her response was laced with sarcasm, Hinata flinching because she knew where this would lead to and it would not be pretty.

"But that was when you were still a genin Tenten, like a whole _decade_ ago," Ino pointed out, placing emphasis on the amount of years ago it was.

Tenten shrugged. "Who cares, Naruto still found me intimidating either way. I do remember him calling me scary at some point in time, but I also remember you Ino looking rather frightened during the Chuunin Exams when I scolded Lee."

She bristled. "That's only because Lee was badly hurt yet you still had the nerve to scold him like that."

"So? Didn't Sakura also do that to Naruto before?" Tenten diverted the attention to Sakura now, who had been watching the entire scene in amusement.

When she heard herself being mentioned however, she pulled an expression of defence. "I did not!" she protested vehemently, deeply disagreeing with the weapons' mistress.

"Did too!"

"I don't know how many times I've seen you beat up Naruto," Ino remarked, sparking a glare from the pink haired ninja.

She turned to Tenten with a frown. "You also do that to Sasuke-kun, don't you Tenten?"

"That's only because he's a total jerk who needs to be punched," Tenten refuted, not liking how she was put into a negative light this time.

"And I only punched Naruto because he was being both an idiot and a jerk who thought it was fun to use his stupid Sexy Jutsu in front of women," Sakura defended calmly, finding no flaw in her logic.

"You both still punched them though," Ino pointed out, earning a glare from both girls this time.

"As if you don't punch Shikamaru for his laziness Ino-Pig."

"I don't! Maybe I kick him?" Ino reasoned, slightly unsure.

Sakura scoffed. "That still counts as beating him up."

"Well you try living with a lazy couch potato who does nothing but sleep all day!" the Yamanaka head bursted, her frustration reaching tenfold.

Tenten frowned. "That's not as bad as living with an uptight prissy pants who finds it fun to insult me every moment of every single day. Not to mention that he's a total ice cube who suffers from severe inferiority and superiority complexes, that arrogant jerk," she cursed before she crossed her arms, confident that she had won. If they had only known what it was like to live with their beloved Sasuke-kun. She really couldn't believe that all the girls wanted to be married to this guy. It was ridiculous.

Sakura only raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "Hah, try living with a hyperactive knucklehead who does nothing but eat ramen all day and leave the house in a total pig sty. You think you have it hard, I have it worse because the guy's a total pervert as well who was influenced too much by Jiraiya sensei and Kakashi sensei in his youth," she huffed, disgruntled at her experiences. Living with Naruto was not at all easy, and she never expected it to be so. But when he still carries those habits he gained from his youth, it just became one hundred times more challenging.

"Shikamaru might not seem like it but he's a total pervert as well. He's just smart enough to not do anything in public." Ino rolled her eyes when she thought of her husband's ways. Everyone had been deceived, including her for that matter.

"And your once beloved 'Sasuke-kun' is number one at trying to get me in bed with him. I don't know how many times I've had to stop halfway in the middle of doing house chores because he wants me to fulfil his needs." Tenten bristled at how he had played everyone for a fool. And here she was thinking that she would have to force herself onto him when it was the exact opposite. Sneaky bastard.

"Argh men and their one tracked mind. I mean, don't they get that we need some space too?" Tenten and Ino nodded in agreement, happy that someone else shared the same feelings. Hinata meanwhile, had watched the entire scene unfold in bewilderment. One minute the girls were arguing over whose husbands were better, and then the next they were ranting about how bad they were. But thankfully she didn't have to play mediator this time. It seemed that the three had done it themselves, although unintentionally.

It went silent for a while before Tenten let out a small chuckle, garnering the attention of the three kunoichi. "Can you believe that we went from bragging to blowing off some steam?"

They all nodded in agreement. "I know right, I don't know how we could be bragging about people so stupid."

Sakura, who had noticed that Hinata had never said a word decided to shine the spotlight on her for once. She couldn't say she was curious. With someone as wild as Kiba as her husband, there ought to be some problems she would want to rant about. "Hinata, how about you? Is there anything about Kiba that just drives you up a wall?"

The other two girls turned to the Inuzuka in question, their curiosity now piqued. "Yeah Hinata. There's bound to be something that makes you angry with Kiba."

Hinata bit her lip, not liking how she was suddenly placed in the spotlight. She preferred to observe, not participate. Besides, she really didn't want to respond. What if Kiba heard?

Noting her reluctance Ino encouraged, "It's alright Hinata. He won't hear us, it'll only be between us four. Besides even if he does hear, we've got your back." Tenten and Sakura nodded in agreement.

"For once Ino-Pig is right. There's nothing to be afraid of Hinata." Ino visibly bristled but didn't make a comment, wanting to hear what Hinata had to say.

"W-Well there's nothing really that Kiba-kun has done. H-He's actually very loving and surprisingly clean. Kiba-kun reminds me of a puppy dog," she finally said but it was not what the girls wanted to hear when they instantly hounded her for something _juicier_ , as they termed it.

"Come on Hinata, you can do better than that! Kiba's got to be the worst out of our husbands right? Have you seen him when he was young?" Tenten protested, wanting something more.

The Hyuga only shook her head. "You're wrong Tenten-san. K-Kiba-kun is nothing like he was before. H-He seems tamed to me. And he's probably the best out of our husbands." She had felt the need to defend her husband, and thus had grown more confident in doing so. She may have been shy and timid, but she still had her pride. Defending the husband's honor was the wife's duty, and vice versa after all.

The girls were surprised, to say the least, at her response. Never did they think that she would end up boasting a little. But they could see the sincerity behind it all. It was just like them when they did the same thing. Sometimes you just had to tell someone how good something or someo _one_ was. And for them it was always their husbands because if they didn't do it, who else would?

After sharing a look of understanding, the girls nodded signalling that they would drop the topic, much to Hinata's relief. "So that settles it then. Inuzuka Kiba, the resident wild beast and dog-tamer is now Konoha's best husband."

Hinata blushed in protest while the other girls laughed at her response. Really, now that they had put it that way it didn't seem like such a great title to hold.

"Kiba may be Konoha's best husband but I say that Shikamaru is the smartest."

Tenten rolled her eyes. "Of course he is, everyone knows that. But Sasuke is the most powerful."

Sakura looked offended. "Sasuke-kun is the most powerful? Psh, Naruto is! He's the Hokage after all," she protested passionately.

"Hokage schmokage, it's just a title. Naruto and Sasuke have always tied, but I bet that even without all their fancy jutsus Sasuke would smash Naruto."

The medic-nin shook her head. "Sasuke-kun may have been more talented but Naruto has work the hardest. Hard work always trumps talent."

Tenten was at a loss for words. She agreed wholeheartedly with Sakura's words, having had two people with the same dynamics on her team but her pride wouldn't let her say it aloud. If she was going to win this battle, she needed to think fast. "Hard work may trump talent but you've got to be smart about it. A good ninja is nothing without their brains," she retaliated, not realising she had made a great mistake.

Ino cracked a grin at this, finally being able to jump into the conversation and end things once and for all. "And that's exactly what Shikamaru has, his brains. He could easily counter both Naruto and Sasuke-kun just using his brain and with no fancy arsenal at his command."

Tenten pouted, realising her mistake as Sakura fumed, not liking how Ino was about to win. "Naruto could be just as smart too you know. In fact in battle, he's highly unpredictable. Not even Shikamaru, with his 200 IQ can beat that."

"And Sasuke's pretty smart himself. He's a prodigy after all. He can be both smart _and_ unpredictable in battle."

Fierce glares were now being thrown at each other, as the three girls stared each other down. Their eyes blazed passionately, not willing to back down from a challenge.

Hinata slowly backed away, not wanting to get involved anymore. Just when she had thought that everything had cooled off, it fired back up again. She really shouldn't have said anything about Kiba. She should've just snuck off from the very beginning.

Before she could make another step back, three heads snapped toward her with blazing gazes.

"Hinata! Who's husband is better?" they cried in unison, glaring when they noticed they had said the exact same thing.

Hinata blanched, not wanting to get involved any longer. "None! Kiba-kun is better!" she finally cracked, before darting off in a separate direction.

"You should've just said Shikamaru Hinata! I'm sure they'd understand," Ino remarked, as the glares were turned to her.

Tenten crossed her arms. "No, Sasuke is obviously better. You guys thought so too back in the day," she pointed out.

"That was back then though. We've changed, I've changed and now I think that Naruto is the best," Sakura nodded firmly as the glares directed toward each other were now amplified tenfold.

"Shikamaru!"

"Sasuke!"

"Naruto!"

And so the argument continued over who was better between the resident ice cube with severe complexes, the hyperactive number one knucklehead ninja or the lazy couch potato who envied clouds. All poor choices, but who could really decide?

* * *

 **Omake**

Before he could stop himself, he sneezed, annoying his two companions at the sudden noise. Sasuke turned to glare at the blond, stepping away from the infected areas as he watched the boy offer a sheepish grin. "Sorry. I thought I heard someone talking about me."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Who would talk about _you_?"

The blond huffed. "Hey, lots of people have talked about me. I _am_ the Hokage after all," he said rather proudly, puffing out his chest in pride. The ANBU Captain snorted, rolling his eyes at his theatrics before Naruto sent him an irritated glare.

"You have something to say teme?"

Sasuke shrugged. "I don't know how Sakura does it, but I'm surprised you haven't driven her up a well yet."

The male huffed, clearly offended. "And I don't know how Tenten hasn't killed _you_ yet, or how Ino hasn't kicked Shikamaru out of the house because of his laziness."

The latter's ears piqued at his name, shooting him a look of annoyance as he was suddenly brought into the petty argument. "Why are you suddenly including me in this?"

"Because you deserve to know that Sakura-chan is the best wife," he said even more proudly, his lips spread out into a grin.

"Okay?" Shikamaru questioned before shaking his head, turning his attention back to the scroll before him. How ridiculous. Naruto looked visibly annoyed, frowning at the male in slight bewilderment.

"Aren't you gonna defend Ino?"

He shrugged. "What's to defend? She already knows she's the best."

Sasuke scoffed, rolling his eyes. So the jounin did care after all. But if they were talking about wives, then...

"You're only saying that because you're both insecure. Tenten is the best, and we all know it."

The Uchiha soon became victim of two icy glares, Naruto looking particularly insulted at the claim. "You're the insecure one teme!"

And so another battle of pride had begun, except this one looked more promising than the last. At least, that's what the girls would say.


End file.
